Ufouria: The Saga

Also known as: Hebereke (JP)Developer:
SunsoftPublisher:
SunsoftPlatform:
NESReleased in JP: September 20, 1991Released in US: August 23, 2010(Virtual Console)Released in EU: November 19, 1992Released in AU: 1992

This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences.

Ufouria is a platformer which features four characters with different abilities, all traversing an open, non-linear world. In Japan, it's known as Hebereke, and the first two main characters have different designs. Sadly, the game seems to have had a rather rough development process, given the sheer amount of unused assets and strange data found within the final ROM.

The game was not seen in America until mid-2010, when it was made available on the Wii's Virtual Console service.

Contents

Missing Triangle Channel

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Due to a programming error, the triangle channel of the title screen music is silent after a hard or soft reset. It can still be heard by returning to the title screen from within the game (e.g. by getting a game over, or entering and exiting the password screen).

Unused Music

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A short, non-looping track, titled "Parallel Hebereke" according to the official soundtrack (Takusan Hebereke).

Unused Text

There are three unused packed tilemaps at 0xC249 in both ROMs: "FLAG CONDITION" and some hex numbers. The font must be loaded into the non-animated background CHR area in order for the strings to display properly. The pointer table indexes for the tilemaps are 0, 1, and 2, respectively. Unfortunately, these indexes are never used by any part of the game code, meaning whatever debugging function they were associated with no longer exists.

Unused Graphics

Both versions of the game contain numerous unused graphics, some of which appear to be from much earlier in the game's development. It seems that the game underwent some rather drastic changes, possibly due to either tight deadlines or limited ROM space. Many of these graphics also reveal that Ufouria and Hebereke were in development at the same time, and that Ufouria may in fact predate Hebereke.

Found Only In Hebereke

Several frames of the UFO boss zooming in from the background. As this is stored with the title screen graphics, and the title screen loads several appropriate palettes, it's safe to assume this was meant to be shown there.

Found Only In Ufouria

Numerous unused animations for Bop-Louie, including what may be a couple of idle animations. Note that these are all blank in Hebereke!

Same as above, but for Freeon-Leeon. Who knew he was a talented singer?

Found In Both

More animations, this time for Shades/Sukezaemon. Apparently he enjoys a nice cup of tea.

Unused animations for Gil/Jennifer. Note that he appears to have actual swimming frames here, whereas in the final game he just sort of...walks underwater. He is also the only character to not have some kind of "blowing steam" animation.

A single frame of O-Chan posing for the camera. (Yes, this also appears in Ufouria.)

A really old version of Bop-Louie just sittin'.

Graphics that depict an unknown cat character (Possibly an early O-Chan?) and early Bop-Louie being...hanged? It's worth noting that the hanged cat graphics are in the same CHR bank as (and line up perfectly with) the large bird that carries you across gaps midway through the game, so the two were likely connected at some point. The hanged Bop-Louie is also stored in a nearby bank, and may be part of the same scenario.

Animations for a cat boss, which could use some kind of bubble attack. This was very likely a scrapped second form of the armored knight boss, as it appears in an adjacent CHR bank. In the final game, the knight's second form is completely defenseless, and doesn't even move.

Interestingly, this cat boss seems to resemble the unknown cat character seen above!

Some sort of rock-throwing penguin dude with shades. Was this to be an enemy, or a playable character?

A ninja enemy that would hurl shuriken at you from the ceiling.

A whole set of animation frames for the little minion dude that the final boss swings around, showing that he was once more than a mere puppet. Apparently they were killable, too, judging by the presence of a life crystal sprite in the same CHR bank.

Either an earlier design for Popoons (the little faces that stomped enemies turn into), or just another enemy. Looks like it could have rolled around.

An unused frame for this blobby obstacle shows it being hit/pushed from the side. It's possible that it once served as a much tougher roadblock than it does in the final game, where it can be defeated with just a couple of jumps. For some reason, the top-right corner of the graphic is missing in Hebereke.

It's a cactus.

A drooling block, similar to the one in the very first area of the game, but with "awake" and "asleep" states. It's possible that at one point, waking one of these blocks would have provided a shortcut to an earlier area of the game.

An older version of the springboard sprite, before it was reshaded and mirrored to save CHR space. (Final springboard on the right for comparison.)

Apparently the world map was supposed to have a legend at one point. A rather unfortunate and puzzling omission.

This is an unused sprite of the unarmored cat knight crying. There is a sprite of him crying but in this one he appears sadder.

An unused frame of O-Chan's swimming sprite and what appear to be swimming frames for Bop-Louie and Shades are all found in Gil's sprites. Bop-Louie and Shades might have been able to swim like Freeon-Leeon/O-Chan at one point in development.

Regional Differences

To do:Compare Bop-Louie and Freeon-Leeon's overworld sprites with their Japanese counterparts.

Europe

Japan

The title screen is completely different between releases.

Europe

Japan

Europe

Japan

The character icons in the sub-menu were changed to match the overworld sprites.

Japan

Europe

The crows attack by dropping fecal matter onto the unsuspecting player in the Japanese version. This was changed into a 16-ton weight in the European release.

Europe

Japan

Compared to the Japanese release, the mouse enemy's arms are stubbier in the European version. In the European prototype, the mouse enemy uses the Japanese graphics.

Europe

Japan

The European Game Over screen is rather bland, whereas the Japanese version uses ornate lettering, similar to the "The End" lettering used in the game's ending. For some strange reason, the European version's tilemap data is present in both versions' CHR ROM, appearing as scrambled tiles in a tile editor.